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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615539">Night Terror</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymoonagedaydream/pseuds/mymoonagedaydream'>mymoonagedaydream</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Recovering, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:33:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mymoonagedaydream/pseuds/mymoonagedaydream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You'd hoped that Bucky’s nightmares were finally under control</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Night Terror</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Hey babe, what’s a Robocop?’</p><p>You gave Bucky a very puzzled look as he strolled through the door in his t-shirt and sweats, carrying the mug of tea you’d asked him to fetch for you.  </p><p>‘Where did you hear that?’</p><p>‘Tony just called me it. Is that a thing now? Robot cops?’</p><p>You couldn’t help laughing a little, even though you resented how often Tony casually threw mind-control jibes at Bucky from his seemingly endless list.</p><p>‘It doesn’t matter, he’s just being an asshole again.’</p><p>As he passed you the mug, you noticed straight away that it was only half-full, and you could only assume that the rest of the tea was spotted up the hallway carpet. You’d told him before not to carry drinks with his left hand, he was so easily distracted and didn’t have the sensation in that arm to feel them spilling everywhere.</p><p>You didn’t say anything though, just gave him a warm smile as he climbed into bed next to you.  </p><p>It was still early, so the two of you relaxed for a little while, curled up watching your shows. This was the part of your evenings together that you really looked forward to, but the bit that came afterwards was always a little jarring.</p><p>He had a careful routine that he had to carry out to the letter before turning the lights off, without which he couldn’t get so much as a few minutes of sleep. </p><p>By this point, you’d memorized it too.</p><p>Bolt all the windows shut. Check the door is double-locked before and after using the bathroom. Make sure the handgun in the bedside drawer is fully loaded with the safety off. Take a double dose of sleeping pills and wash them down a full tumbler of scotch.</p><p>If it had been anyone else, you might’ve questioned whether it was necessary to do that last part every single evening. But not Bucky. Anything that helped him sleep through the night was completely fine with you.</p><p>And it did. </p><p>Even the nightmares had waned since he’d perfected his routine. When you first met, you couldn’t even share a bed, he’d howl and thrash around like he was fighting for his life. Now he barely moved, sleeping best when he was completely cocooned around you with your back flush against his chest, like he was sheltering you from heavy gunfire. It gave him deep comfort knowing that, in this position, he could keep you safe even while he rested.  </p><p>This evening was no different than usual. </p><p>He finished his routine, slipped carefully into bed behind you and dozed off, his warm breath on the back of your neck giving you the feeling of immense comfort and safety that helped you to do the same.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>A sharp, throbbing pain in your arm pulled you out of deep sleep.</p><p>Still a little disoriented, you blindly fumbled at the source of the ache, finding something tight and firm. Taking a deep breath in and peeling your eyes open, you directed your hazy vision towards it.</p><p>It was Bucky’s hand. He was digging his fingers into your arm, his thumb deep in your muscle causing the bulk of the discomfort.</p><p>‘Buck?’ You muttered, trying your best to release his grip. ‘Buck, wake up.’</p><p>He didn’t so much as stir. Still half-asleep, you decided to try and crawl away to the other side of the bed, hoping to either wake him up in the process or muster enough energy to yank yourself out of his grip.</p><p>That was your big mistake.</p><p>As soon as you tried to shift yourself away from him, he wrenched your shoulder back towards the bed, flipping you onto your back and eliciting a shocked yelp from your lips. </p><p>You were fully awake now but, before you could even try to figure out what was happening, both of his hands were sealed around your neck.</p><p>He was looming over you on his knees, elbows locked and shoulders squared. His face was completely flat, emotionless. His eyes were still closed. He was still asleep.</p><p>You quickly realised that if you didn’t start fighting back, he probably wouldn’t stop until he’d finished the job.</p><p>You started flailing your legs, whacking them against any part of Bucky they could find. You clawed at his hands but they were bolted in place. You grasped at handfuls of his hair, wrenching it as hard as you could, just hoping that’d be enough to wake him up. Nothing.</p><p>Just as darkness started creeping into the corners of your vision, you managed to manoeuvre your foot underneath him and wedge it against his throat, mustering all your remaining energy to give one powerful kick.</p><p>He fell backwards, jolting awake.</p><p>You rolled yourself off the bed and thudded onto the floor, violently coughing whilst trying to gulp in as many raspy breaths as you could. </p><p>Without even thinking, you clambered up onto your feet and sprinted towards the door, scrambling around with the locks until it would open.</p><p>You fell into the hallway, your shoulder whacking hard against Steve’s door opposite. Bucky’s hoarse voice followed you out but, before you even begin to decipher what he was saying, Steve was standing in the doorway in front of you.</p><p>As soon as you saw his face you broke down in hysterics, your throat producing a horrific cacophony of scratchy breaths and guttural sobs. He took you in his arms, asking you what the hell had happened, demanding to know who was responsible.</p><p>He stopped when he saw Bucky stumble into the doorway of your room, wide-eyed and shaking.</p><p>All the other doors in the hallway flung open one after another, your thunderous bawling had seemingly woken up everyone within a mile of the compound. Tony bolted towards you and Steve, carefully lifting your chin up when he reached you, examining the pattern of bruising already mottling your neck.</p><p>‘What the hell happened?!’</p><p>You tried to respond but all you could produce was a series of scraping gasps, the sound of which sent you straight back into your spiral of distress.</p><p>Steve passed you over to Tony, asking him to take you down to the infirmary while he dealt with this.</p><p>As you were being led down the hallway, you glanced over your shoulder to see Steve storm into your room, yank Bucky back inside and slam the door behind him.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>‘I told you he wasn’t good for you, y/n.’</p><p>You opened your mouth to retort, but Tony quickly raised his finger up, holding it an inch away from your lips.</p><p>‘Ah. No talking, rest your throat.’</p><p>You just shook your head, frustrated that you couldn’t come to Bucky’s defence.</p><p>You knew he’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you.</p><p>It’d been one of the most intensely terrifying nights of your life, but now you’d had some time to calm down and reflect on what’d happened, all you wanted to do was find him and reassure him that you were alright.</p><p>‘Y’know one of these days, he’s gonna-’</p><p>He cut himself off when he noticed Bucky uneasily shuffling into the room, looking more desolate than you’d ever seen him, barely even able to look you in the eyes. You felt your heart drop. His expression alone told you how savagely he was beating himself up about this.</p><p>‘You come to finish her off?’</p><p>Tony’s spiteful jeer immediately made an intense anger bubble up in your chest. You shot him a murderous glare, prompting him to put his hands up in surrender and back out of the room.</p><p>‘Squeak if you need me.’</p><p>Bucky slowly approached, stopping just a few inches in front of you, his eyes welling up as they scanned over your bruising. He brought his hand up to stroke his fingertips gently across your neck, quickly retracting when you involuntarily winced.</p><p>Before he could take a step back, you reached out to grab him by the waist, holding him in place and trying your best to give him the most reassuring look you could manage.</p><p>He lowered his head, bringing his forehead to rest against yours.</p><p>‘I’m so sorry.’</p><p>You cupped his face in your hands, stroking your thumbs across his cheeks before planting a lingering kiss just below his hairline.</p><p>‘It’s not your fault.’</p><p>Your voice was dry and scratchy, making him squeeze his eyes shut and clench his jaw, intense self-loathing in his chest rising again.</p><p>You could spot Bucky’s warning signs a mile off. </p><p>As soon as he began to tense up, you threw your arms around his shoulders and pulled him into you, holding him tight to your chest until you felt some of the agitation melt away.</p><p>He buried his face in your shoulder and ran his hands up and down your back, just savouring the feeling of holding you close before having to say out loud what both of you knew was coming. </p><p>‘I think we should sleep separately for a while.’</p><p>You pulled away slightly, giving him a weak smile and nod, doing all you could to hold back your tears for his sake. He felt shitty enough about what’d happened seeing you upset again.  </p><p>‘I’ll figure this out, I promise.’</p>
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